The story has a beginning, middle, and end, a modest departure from the straight news story form that utilizes the inverted pyramid.
Beginning: The main news. A sad personal student story of failure. A response from the state education commissioner.
Middle: Now comes the political pivot of the story. We are told “The new science requirement comes seven years after the state mandated that all high school students must pass MCAS exams in English and math in order to receive a diploma. That requirement led to some high-profile revolts, including at least one lawsuit and threats from a handful of school committees that they would ignore the state edict. But such controversy has largely been absent this time around, which many educators and advocates take as a sign that schools have come to accept the tests. Still, some groups want to be sure that schools and the state have a plan to help 12th-graders who still have not passed the exam by the end of the school year.” [Italicizing mine].
Who are these “many educators and advocates [who] take as a sign” that the exam has now been accepted? How many? And if it’s been accepted, is it because educators’ now appreciate the value of the exam for their students? Or does the acceptance reflect state coercion and the suppression of teachers’ views in the media, along with an accompanying sense of resignation?
Ending: We get a quote here from a representative of the Boston Private Industry Council telling us that we can’t give up on the kids and that, “We need to let them know we’ll stay with them no matter what.” We are told that the MCAS dropout rate has fallen dramatically because of tutoring programs (Tutoring or the increased emphasis on the test prep that dominates class time?) We are informed that 72% of those who fail MCAS are special education students or “are learning to speak English.” Then the story wraps up with the story of how one Boston school gave its seniors 40 extra hours of tutoring in a successful effort to push them over the MCAS Science hump. Moral of the story: it can be done.
I was hoping that somewhere in this article there would appear the view that tests such as the Science MCAS-quite apart from curricular impact-are not good enough, nor were they designed, to make high-stakes decision about students and schools.
Just why this is the case might have become apparent to Globe readers with a quote or two from education scholar Diane Ravitch whose two recent speaking engagements in Boston, at the BTU and at Harvard, have been blacked-out in the Globe’s news columns.
According to the Globe search engine, ditto for news coverage of Stamford Professor Linda Darling-Hammond’s recent three-day speaking engagement in the Boston area. Hammond, who was on Obama’s short list for the Secretary of Education post, shares many of Ravitch’s views. These are important scholars.
Can it be that the failure by the region’s largest newspaper to adequately cover such views helps to explain the lack of controversy, which, we are then told, “many educators and advocates take as a sign that schools have come to accept the tests”?
Science…hypothesis…observation…cause…effect. Identification and control of variables. Perhaps the time for some genuine experimentation has arrived in our city’s newsrooms.
good morning bill.
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p>it seems like you set up each blog essay where there’s no way the reporter can win. do u feel u give him a fair shake?
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p>*didn’t you criticize him recently b/c he quoted the teacher’s union leader as a source, instead of a real teacher? this time he includes a real teacher instead. but no points from you.
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p>*in almost every blog, you complain of no diane ravitch. we get it. you think she should be the key source in every story. (despite that she already got a full book review and an op-ed in the past year, and i’m pretty sure ZERO other scholars can say that).
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p>*isn’t there’s a ton of missing views inherent to any news story?
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p>example:
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p>the reporter didn’t include any quote showing that to pass the test you need to get about 35% right on a mostly multiple choice test. something like
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p>
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p>example:
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p>the facts show that almost all the kids pass this test. why does the story lead with a counter-example?
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p>it would be like a story where almost all teachers show up for work on time, but it opens with an anecdote about someone who is often late.
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p>example:
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p>the reporter could have asked a bunch of kids “Rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how hard you tried in Grade 9 science class? What about in Grade 10 science class?”
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p>and maybe would have found lots of kids said they tried harder in Grade 10 (MCAS given at end of year) than Grade 9 (no MCAS). or vice versa, who knows.
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p>example
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p>The top scoring school – albeit a very small school – was a charter school with all black students. But nary a word. Geez, if were the head of the NAACP, i’d be screaming bloody murder.
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p>example
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p>The department head at Acton-Boxborough, where almost every kid aces the test on the first try, said…
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p>*
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p>doesn’t the limited space mean that the reporter – on any news story – must leave out several plausible alternative frames (not just your preferred frame)?
For efficiency’s sake, let me make a list:
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p>1. Yes, omissions are inherent in any news story. Of course, reporters make choices. I mean to show that, where testing/charters/merit pay is concerned, there is a remarkable consistency in the writing and or editing of Globe news stories, in terms of assumptions made and sources consulted.
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p>2. It is not a question of the reporter being able to “win,” but rather reporting the news and providing sufficient context so the reader can understand and fully evaluate the information being reported. Vaznis is an honest, hardworking guy, but he see the world through a certain lens.
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p>3. It is true that in this story an actual teacher was quoted. That was good! I did notice that. Alas, this teacher’s contribution to a consideration of high stakes testing is: “Extra tutoring may help.” Come on.
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p>4. Well, sorry about that. Ravitch just left town. Did you even know that Darling-Hammond had been in town? Ravitch told me that Larry Harmon interviewed her. So where is the interview? The WSJ, Times, and WashPo seemed to think her turnaround was extremely newsworthy. Yeah, she made a book review. But the prior op ed was way before the whole turnaround. There has been a dearth of dissenting views on the Globe op ed page, were the important topic of education is concerned. (And a surfeit of the other stuff.)
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p>5. Any way the reason I brought Ravitch up again is that she stated that these exams aren’t designed to do what we are using them for. Is that true? If so, somewhere this view needs to be mentioned in the reportage, otherwise people will naturally assume that we all agree the exam is a valid and precise instrument for determining something important.
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p>6. I was just told this a.m. by a high level administrator who shall remain nameless that, yes, for some of these immigrant kids, this is a vocabulary test.
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p>7, I have lived with the Globe news and op ed drumbeat on education for 17 years. I find it extremely monotonous. I personally promise not to mention Ravitch for at least several weeks (!), but I plan to continue to call the Globe on coverage that is unbalanced and inadequate.
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p>Sorry if I missed some of your other points. Not sure what you were getting out at the end.
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p>Bill
Maybe here’s a diff way to ask the question:
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p>Are there any major regional newspapers that cover education in a way you DO endorse?
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p>I realize you may not read them – Denver, Chicago, WaPo, Milwaukee, AJC – as most folks read a local and maybe the Times or WSJ. But I wondered if you thought there was a model out there. Or perhaps if you’ve looked at K-12 coverage in other papers and you think they’re all bad.
I read the Times and Post on-line. Editorially, the Times has become much closer to the Globe on education issues. But I respect the Times because, despite their editorial slant, they have had several education columnists (as opposed to occasional op ed contributors) who opposed the policies supported by the paper’s editorial writer and publisher. They covered Ravitch as a news story because…well…it was news, even though what she was saying didn’t gibe with the Times position. I think that shows a certain courage, confidence, and integrity.
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p>I see this in WashPo too, and occasionally even flashes of it in the WSJ. That wins my admiration.
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p>What upsets me is when someone tries to prevail in a debate by excluding other viewpoints or setting the parameters of reasonable discussion only inches from their own position. In my opinion, that’s an abuse of media power and ill serves the readership.
I read the Times and Post on-line. Editorially, the Times has become much closer to the Globe on education issues. But I respect the Times because, despite their editorial slant, they have had several education columnists (as opposed to occasional op ed contributors) who opposed the policies supported by the paper’s editorial writer and publisher. They covered Ravitch as a news story because…well…it was news, even though what she was saying didn’t gibe with the Times position. I think that shows a certain courage, confidence, and integrity.
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p>I see this in WashPo too, and occasionally even flashes of it in the WSJ. That wins my admiration.
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p>What upsets me is when someone tries to prevail in a debate by excluding other viewpoints or setting the parameters of reasonable discussion only inches from their own position. In my opinion, that’s an abuse of media power and ill serves the readership.
Part of the Globe’s failure on education is due to tunnel vision that excludes nearly everything but the ed reform agenda.
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p>The other part, however, is more complex. It’s easy, I think, to get a quote from some bozo on ed reform. Call the DESE. Call the Boston Foundation. Call any number of national organizations.
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p>But who speaks with authority against ed reform?
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p>Most teachers have a limited view of the subject. How does a reporter select a teacher to represent the teachers’ point of view.
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p>The MTA and AFT lobby for us and help locals negotiate. They represent educators, but, they represent us as employees first, educators second. Much of the public, including many “liberals” who post on this site, hold unions in contempt and, fairly or not, find union statement’s suspect. It’s easy enough to get a quote from someone in the union leadership. That’s what the Globe usually does. That’s what most papers due.
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p>Personally, I’d like to see more educational researchers–such as Diane Ravitch–be interviewed and get quoted. Theirs is a neglected point of view. In spite of the many esteemed education researchers in Massachusetts (and not just at Harvard), their point of view (or the research perspective, for that matter) is rarely represented.
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p>For example, two Massachusetts-based educational researchers who might be worth quoting on education reform are Andy Hargreaves and Sonia Nieto. Andy Hargreaves at Boston College might be a good person to interview. Sonia Nieto is emerita and UMass-Amherst. She’s an expert in multicultural education.
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p>These two professors are not necessarily experts in education reform, but they surely know as much as the average union president or the average bozo in the DESE or some think tank. What they offer is a different perspective.
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p>For a reporter, I think it’s hard to cultivate sources. That’s why they rely on the same ones so often. It would take some effort, probably on the part of the editors, to improve sourcing for education articles.
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Mark, I appreciate them!
I read them both in grad school. I tried but couldn’t get into Nieto’s class.
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p>I figure maybe a Globie will read a post or comment some day and learn something.
…another good one, also at BC, is Dennis Shirley, who has collaborated with Hargreaves on some great stuff.
The Globe attacks public education for the same reason the Herald publishes Howie Carr — it’s good for business. Remember the days whenever a Red Sox players picked his nose, it was front page news in the Globe?
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p>Public school districts don’t buy newspaper ads…charter schools, private schools, tutors, and other hangers-on do.